Dwelling on things elevating and beautiful

There was much that was thought-provoking and edifying in the address made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the opening of the ground-breaking, Media Development Centre, at the premises of the Government Information Department last Friday. It brought to mind some central theoretical positions in Development Journalism, which are, unfortunately, observed more in the breach today or are totally ignored by sections of the local media.

Essentially, the position taken by the President was that sections of our media have a strong penchant for dwelling on the sordid and the ugly, while the true and the beautiful are given second place or are not taken into account at all. He said that this was a serious imbalance in local media practice that needs to be addressed. Sri Lanka, he said, has come a long way since the defeat of terrorism in May 2009, and has achieved much in the area of development, including, of course, social advancement, but all of this is thrust aside and the predominantly negative and uninspiring focused on.

The media were requested to get out of this negative mindset and convey to the world this country’s achievements, which are currently numerous.

We believe the local media ought to dwell on these things long and deep. In this commentary we have expatiated in the past on the crucial importance of that species of journalism described as Development Journalism. Discourse on Development Journalism has been quite widespread abroad over the years but has failed to catch on in this country to the desired degree, but it is a discourse and discipline that needs to be revisited very badly on account of its undoubted importance.

How does the subject of Development Journalism relate to the President’s observations on media practice? Put simply, in developing countries, such as Sri Lanka, it is development and connected issues that ought to be considered of supreme importance. This is a central tenet in Development Journalism and its validity endures strongly because very few things could be of more importance for countries like ours than development. This happened to be the President’s theme too.

These principal lessons in journalism and policy formulation, however, have not been addressed to the desired extent by sections of the local media, who, unfortunately, continue to cling to the conventional values in journalism, which require the practitioner to focus mainly on the sensational, the spectacular and the dramatic. The latter have been the stuff of journalism over the years but the demands of development and national well being need to be addressed adequately and it is on these fronts that the conventional brand of journalism which predominates in the West, has failed us badly. If we continue to use Western journalistic norms as the sole model there is no doubt that development and national reconciliation, which are crucial to our societies, would be inadequately addressed.

Accordingly, we need to balance what is conventionally regarded as newsworthy with what should be seen as crucial to the developing world, such as, equitable material advancement, national harmony and reconciliation among social groups. And Sri Lanka is in a position to furnish enough and more material on the latter subjects because she is a country on the mend and on the march and should be viewed in a balanced fashion by our media.

While some sections of the media would like to highlight what is sordid and dispiriting only, socially conscious media organizations, such as ANCL, would seek to do the opposite and dwell principally on what has been achieved since May 2009 in particular by way of development and internal social cohesion and stability. Some of the elevating and heartening subjects the President mentioned are, mega development ventures countrywide, integration of LTTE members into mainstream society following rehabilitation, stepped-up agricultural productivity and urban beautification.

By making these observations we do not intend to imply that what is unpleasant should be kept out of journalistic coverage. All that is being said is that the objective truth about Sri Lanka must be bared in a balanced fashion by the local media. Besides helping to put the record straight about Sri Lanka, media practice of this kind would be instrumental in inspiring in the world outside and within Sri Lanka, respect and regard for this country.